To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Former Shooting Star employee to be
charged with felony theft
By Gary Blair
Mahnomen County authorities say
they will charge former Shooting Star
Casino employee Pearl Clark with
felony theft after the former Ponsford,
MN resident was removed from her
work area on Oct. 8,1998, and searched
by casino security guards. (Clark is
not related to former White Earth
council member, Rickie Clark, who was
convicted in 1996, and later imprisoned
for theft and vote fraud.) Sources at
the casino say Clark had worked there
for more than a year.
Mahnomen City police officer, Peter
Walker, told your writer on Tuesday
thathe would notrelease Clark's arrest
report until after the Mahnomen
County Attorney had formally charged
the Lake Park, MN resident. "Yes, I was
the arresting officer, and she (Clark)
will be charged with afelony," Walker
responded. Walker would not say how
much money Clark had been caught
with, or if there would be a continuing
investigation into the matter.
Clark's arrest occurred about 2 a.m.
Thursday, after she had first been
taken to a casino bathroom by two
female security guards and searched.
"She had just asked for permission to
go out to her car to get her wal let when
the security guards came in and asked
her to go with them. Everyone who was
working in the casino that morning
knew what had happened," oursources
say.
However, sources at the casino that
know Clark, say that her husband is
retired and the couple own at least
three new or newer vehicles. One mid-
Shooting Star/to pg.5
Universal Concerts and Seagrams block
Muckleshoot Amphitheater
by Douglas Casgraux
Seattle, Washington — As the
Muckleshoot Tribe of South-central
Washington state, awaits one more in
a series of court ordered environmental
impact statements; more solid
evidence has come to light regarding
just "who" is blocking the tribe's
endeavor to build a 20,000 seat
amphitheater on the tribes 99 acre site
overlooking scenic Mt. Rainier.
In a statement issued from tribal
chairman, John Daniel Jr's. office,
"Although the tribe is not required to
suspend construction, it has decided
to do so to facilitate both the Army
Corps of Engineers ongoing
environmental review process and the
BIA's compliance with the court
order". Referring to the order given
the tribe by U.S. District Judge John
Coughenour, who directed the Bureau
of Indian Affairs to prepare an
environmental impact statement .which
could take at least a year to complete.
Bowing to the courts request, the
beleaguered tribe has been assaulted
on sides; primarily from its non-Indian
neighbors who have founded a local
non-profit resident organization to
block the amphitheater:
"Citizens forSafety and Environment."
"We don't believe that the
amphitheater has a place in our
community," says Anne Cosgrove,
Vice-chairman forthe "citizens"group.
" We have a beautiful rural
community...what about the crime,
pollution and the noise, such a place
would create; beside the effect it would
have on our businesses. No, we must
protect our interests" stated Cosgrove.
In a heated re-election platform of "us
"versus "them" the Mayors of
Enumclaw, Auburn, Black Diamond
and Granite have signed a letter with
"otherprominent," non-Indian citizens
of Washington state to beg Senator
Slade Gordon to help in their cause to
stop the Muckleshoots. "We're very
used to the real motives of our
neighbors, this is nothing new," says
Muckleshoot Tribal Chairman, John
Muckleshoot/to pg. 5
Lawrence only Minnesotan participating in
nat'l Citizens' Initiative on Race and Ethnicity
Book Beyond Victimization to be published this year
Bill Lawrence, enrolled member of
the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
and publisher of the Bemidji-based
weekly newspaper Native American
Press/Ojibwe News, has been asked to
submit an essay for a book entitled
Beyond Victimization, to be published
later this year. The book constitutes
the report of the national Citizens'
Initiative on Race and Ethnicity.
Lawrence is trie only MihnSsotan
and the only Native American who has
been asked to contribute to the book.
"We are thrilled to have Bill
contributing an essay," said Abigail
Thernstrom. who is co-editor of Be\ ond
Victimization, along with her husband
Stephan. The book will contain
contributions from approximately 20
distringuished writers and thinkers on
race issues in America, including such
notable authors as James Q. Wilson
andMichaelBarone. "Bill will provide
a thought-provoking, judicious
analysis of the histon' and status of
native Americans," said Thernstrom.
The Citizens' Initiative on Race and
Cow Creek Band may
motorcycle factory
Ethnicity was formed in July 1998. "The
President offered an invitation to have
a national discussion on race. We've
accepted that invitation," said
Thernstrom. She and her husband
also co-authored a book in 1997 entitled
America in Black and White fSimon
and Schuster). "Our aim is to enrich
the debate initiated by the President,
and ourbook will contain perspectives
and information likely to differ from
that in the official White House
Lawrence/to pg. 8
build Indian
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - The last Indian
motorcycle rolled off the assembly line
in 1953, but the Cow Creek Band of
Umpqua Tribe is negotiating with Eller
Industries Inc. to revive the fabled
trademark.
The tribe hopes to build a motorcycle
factory on tribal land near Myrtle
Creek, about 15 miles south of
Roseburg.
"Our attorney is in Denver right now
working on this, but it's not a done
deal yet," said Leroy Blodgett, director
of special projects for the tribe.
However, Eller Industries of Niwot,
Colo., which acquired the Indian
trademark in January, has said it plans
to change its name to Indian
Motorcycle Co. and revive the brand.
In June, the company announced it
had "planned, budgeted, and
scheduled in detail" a 26-month
program, at the end of which it would
be in full production of heavyweight
Indian motorcycles.
The new company's first products
would beapairofV-twin models, which
would share a frame and engine but
feature different styling.
Roush Industries Inc., a
transportation engineering and
prototyping company headquartered
in Livonia, Mich., has been hired to
design the V-twin engine.
Indian is one ofthe most renowned
names among motorcycle buffs. Eller
Industries estimates that, through
obsessive maintenance and
scrounging forparts, owners may have
kept more than 100,000 ofthe decades-
old bikes on the road.
Since the original Indian enterprise
Motorcycle/to Pg. 3
Catawbas team up with university to offer
lobbying seminars
ROCKHILL, S.C. (AP) - TheCatawba
Indian Nation is teaming up with
Washington's Georgetown University
to offer seminars in lobbying, finance
and economics to tribal leaders
nationwide.
The Tribal Executive Institute will
help the tribes hold their own against
politiciansonCapitolHill. Georgetown
professors and senior tribal leaders
from across the country will run the
seminars inRock Hill and Washington.
"It's gotten to the point where
(Indian) leaders are much more
involved in the political system," said
Catawba chief Gilbert Blue.
"They need to be educated and need
to educate Congress about what the
concerns are in Indian country."
In the past, leaders stayed close to
home, managing their reservations and
going to Washington only to fight
bills that would adversely affect them,
Blue said.
The new program will help them meet
new challenges, said Gay Drew, the
institute's founder and president.
"What I noted was that there was a
need for an entity that would provide
aplace where tribal members could get
immersion into critical issues they have
to deal with on a daily basis," Drew
said.
"When leaders sit in the tribal chair,
they are supposed to know it all. People
used to ask, 'Is there somewhere I can
go for this?' " Now, there is, she said.
About30 Oneidas, Cherokees, Scquims
and otherNative Americans signed up
for the first seminar on Saturday in
Myrtle Beach.
It will be combined with the annua}
Catawbas/to pg. 3
•Former Shooting Star employee to be charged with felony theft
•Red Lake man alleges violations of Indian Civil Rights Act
•Universal Concerts, Seagrams block Muckleshoot Amphitheater
•Lawrence only Minnesotan participating in nat'l Citizens' Initiative
on Race and Ethnicity
•Smokescreens at White Earth and Leech Lake, pg. 3
•LL Housing election an insult to MCT Constitution, pg. 4
Voice ofthe People
email. pr8SSon@paulbunyan.net
Native
American
Press
®
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988
Volume n Issue 01
October 18,1898
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright Native American Press, 1888
On October 6,1998, President Clinton signed into law the Sand Creek Massacre National Historical Site
Study Act of 1998. The law requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a resource study ofthe Sand
Creek Massacre site in Colorado for submission to Congress. Pictured, from left to right: Senator Ben
Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), President William J. Clinton, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Rl).Storyonpg. 5
Red Lake man alleges violations of Indian
Civil Rights Act in challenge to conviction
By Jeff Armstrong
The authority of tribal courts to try
defendants without appointing them
professional attorneys and to issue
sentences of more than one year
imprisonment is being challenged in a
federal habeas corpus petition.
In his petition to the U.S. District
Court in Minneapolis, William Roy
maintains that he was denied the right
to competent legal representation
during his trial in Red Lake Tribal Court
last year, in violation ofthe due process
clauseofthe federal IndianCivil Rights
Act (ICRA). Roy was sentenced to two
years imprisonment on charges of
aggravated assault and reckless
handling ofa dangerous weapon for
his role in the stabbing death of Wesley
Strong, though ICRA specifically
prohibits tribal courts from imposing
sentences of more than one year for
any "single offense."
"Mr. Roy has been sentenced to two
years in the Red Lake jail for a single
offense," Roy's brief argues. "He was
sentenced without ever having the
advice and assistance of legal counsel,
and his rights were even further
prejudiced by having to share his lay
advocate with his brother, with whom
Mr. Roy had an obvious and
substantial conflict of interest. While
perhaps the federal courts have
historically turned a blind eye to due
process abuses in tribal courts by
consoling themselves that the
potential sentences are limited, that
consolation is not available in the
instant case," states the memorandum
prepared by Roy's attorney,U.S. public
defender Scott Tilsen.
Roy's petition argues that the two
charges are indistinguishable aspects
of the same offense, and that even if
the court had the authority to impose
consective one-year sentences, it could
not do so without providing Roy a
licensed attorney.
Red Lake attorney David Harrington
and Kurt Bluedog of Minneapolis,
however, counter that the U.S. lacks
authority to review the case and that
the sentence was imposed for two
distinct offenses. "No objection to the
separate charges or to the Red Lake
Public Defender was raised before,
during, or after trial, or in the Notice of
Appeal. William, therefore, failed to
avail himself of a tribal court
determination on these issues, thereby
failing to exhaust tribal court remedies,
regardless ofthe current status ofhis
appeal," the Red Lake response
asserts.
However, Roy's reply notes that the
federal doctrine of "exhaustion of tribal
remedies" as a prerequisite to U.S.
jurisdiction has never been directly
applied to a habeas corpus petition
under ICRA. Such application would
render the largely symbolic ICRA even
more meaningless than it already is,
since tribal appeals could be arbitrarily
delay ed well past the prison term ofthe
appellant.
Governor urges casinos to wake up to
threat of Proposition 5
Opponents of Pequote annexation hail
decision in Minnesota
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Gov. Bob Mi Her
said the casino industry doesn't
understand the magnitude of the
economic crisis that could face Nevada
if California voters approve an Indian
gaming initiativenextmonth.
"California is our largest economic
base. Ifwe are asleep at the switch and
this creeps up, it could be a serious
problem," Miller told the Las Vegas
Sun this weekend from Belgium, where
he was on a mission to lure tourists to
Nevada.
Casino industry leaders
acknowledged last week that they're
losing the battle to stop Proposition 5,
the California Indian Self-Reliance
Initiative.
Latest polls show California voters
favor the initiative by 15 to 20 points.
The tribes have outspent the casino
industry and a coalition of California
special interests by a 3-1 margin.
"We could lose it, absolutely, given
the fact that many people in the
industry are sticking their heads in the
sand," said Mike Sloan, general
counsel of Circus Circus Enterprises.
Circus Circus, Mirage Resorts Inc. and
Hilton Gaming have been leading the
way in funding the Proposition Five
fight.
But beyond those gaming giants,
support within the casino industry has
been light. If the ballot initiative passes
Nov. 3, more than 100 California tribes
would be able to develop Las Vegas-
style gambling operations, which
experts say eventually could cost
Proposition 5/to pg. 3
PRESTON, Conn. (AP) - A federal
ruling against land annexation by a
rich Minnesota Indian tribe is raising
hopes in southeastern Connecticut.
The issues are similar to a case in
which Preston, Ledyard and North
Stonington opposed the
Mashantucket Pequots' annexation of
165 acres across from tjie tribe's
Foxwoods Resort Casino and
reservation.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs this
week rejected an application by the
Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota tribe
in Minnesota, citing the success of
their Mystic Lake Casino. The BIA
ruled that the tribe had not proved it
needed the land for its long-term
survival.
] However, the decision brushed aside
the city of Shakopee's objection that
placing the land into trust would have
a negative impact on its tax base and
zoning regulations.
The three towns in the Connecticut
case are represented by the same law
firm that represented those who
opposed the annexation by the
Minnesota tribes. "The three towns
would have won in Connecticut if (the
BIA) had utilized the same standard,"
lawyer Guy Martin said Thursday.
In 1995,theBIA allowed thePequots
to annex the 165 acres across from
their casino. The federal lawsuit by
Preston, Ledyard and North
Stonington seeks to overturn that
decision.
Martin said he expected his law firm
would submit the BIA's Minnesota
ruling to the federal judge who is
consider the lawsuit filed by the three
Connecticut towns.

Former Shooting Star employee to be
charged with felony theft
By Gary Blair
Mahnomen County authorities say
they will charge former Shooting Star
Casino employee Pearl Clark with
felony theft after the former Ponsford,
MN resident was removed from her
work area on Oct. 8,1998, and searched
by casino security guards. (Clark is
not related to former White Earth
council member, Rickie Clark, who was
convicted in 1996, and later imprisoned
for theft and vote fraud.) Sources at
the casino say Clark had worked there
for more than a year.
Mahnomen City police officer, Peter
Walker, told your writer on Tuesday
thathe would notrelease Clark's arrest
report until after the Mahnomen
County Attorney had formally charged
the Lake Park, MN resident. "Yes, I was
the arresting officer, and she (Clark)
will be charged with afelony," Walker
responded. Walker would not say how
much money Clark had been caught
with, or if there would be a continuing
investigation into the matter.
Clark's arrest occurred about 2 a.m.
Thursday, after she had first been
taken to a casino bathroom by two
female security guards and searched.
"She had just asked for permission to
go out to her car to get her wal let when
the security guards came in and asked
her to go with them. Everyone who was
working in the casino that morning
knew what had happened," oursources
say.
However, sources at the casino that
know Clark, say that her husband is
retired and the couple own at least
three new or newer vehicles. One mid-
Shooting Star/to pg.5
Universal Concerts and Seagrams block
Muckleshoot Amphitheater
by Douglas Casgraux
Seattle, Washington — As the
Muckleshoot Tribe of South-central
Washington state, awaits one more in
a series of court ordered environmental
impact statements; more solid
evidence has come to light regarding
just "who" is blocking the tribe's
endeavor to build a 20,000 seat
amphitheater on the tribes 99 acre site
overlooking scenic Mt. Rainier.
In a statement issued from tribal
chairman, John Daniel Jr's. office,
"Although the tribe is not required to
suspend construction, it has decided
to do so to facilitate both the Army
Corps of Engineers ongoing
environmental review process and the
BIA's compliance with the court
order". Referring to the order given
the tribe by U.S. District Judge John
Coughenour, who directed the Bureau
of Indian Affairs to prepare an
environmental impact statement .which
could take at least a year to complete.
Bowing to the courts request, the
beleaguered tribe has been assaulted
on sides; primarily from its non-Indian
neighbors who have founded a local
non-profit resident organization to
block the amphitheater:
"Citizens forSafety and Environment."
"We don't believe that the
amphitheater has a place in our
community," says Anne Cosgrove,
Vice-chairman forthe "citizens"group.
" We have a beautiful rural
community...what about the crime,
pollution and the noise, such a place
would create; beside the effect it would
have on our businesses. No, we must
protect our interests" stated Cosgrove.
In a heated re-election platform of "us
"versus "them" the Mayors of
Enumclaw, Auburn, Black Diamond
and Granite have signed a letter with
"otherprominent," non-Indian citizens
of Washington state to beg Senator
Slade Gordon to help in their cause to
stop the Muckleshoots. "We're very
used to the real motives of our
neighbors, this is nothing new," says
Muckleshoot Tribal Chairman, John
Muckleshoot/to pg. 5
Lawrence only Minnesotan participating in
nat'l Citizens' Initiative on Race and Ethnicity
Book Beyond Victimization to be published this year
Bill Lawrence, enrolled member of
the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
and publisher of the Bemidji-based
weekly newspaper Native American
Press/Ojibwe News, has been asked to
submit an essay for a book entitled
Beyond Victimization, to be published
later this year. The book constitutes
the report of the national Citizens'
Initiative on Race and Ethnicity.
Lawrence is trie only MihnSsotan
and the only Native American who has
been asked to contribute to the book.
"We are thrilled to have Bill
contributing an essay," said Abigail
Thernstrom. who is co-editor of Be\ ond
Victimization, along with her husband
Stephan. The book will contain
contributions from approximately 20
distringuished writers and thinkers on
race issues in America, including such
notable authors as James Q. Wilson
andMichaelBarone. "Bill will provide
a thought-provoking, judicious
analysis of the histon' and status of
native Americans," said Thernstrom.
The Citizens' Initiative on Race and
Cow Creek Band may
motorcycle factory
Ethnicity was formed in July 1998. "The
President offered an invitation to have
a national discussion on race. We've
accepted that invitation," said
Thernstrom. She and her husband
also co-authored a book in 1997 entitled
America in Black and White fSimon
and Schuster). "Our aim is to enrich
the debate initiated by the President,
and ourbook will contain perspectives
and information likely to differ from
that in the official White House
Lawrence/to pg. 8
build Indian
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) - The last Indian
motorcycle rolled off the assembly line
in 1953, but the Cow Creek Band of
Umpqua Tribe is negotiating with Eller
Industries Inc. to revive the fabled
trademark.
The tribe hopes to build a motorcycle
factory on tribal land near Myrtle
Creek, about 15 miles south of
Roseburg.
"Our attorney is in Denver right now
working on this, but it's not a done
deal yet," said Leroy Blodgett, director
of special projects for the tribe.
However, Eller Industries of Niwot,
Colo., which acquired the Indian
trademark in January, has said it plans
to change its name to Indian
Motorcycle Co. and revive the brand.
In June, the company announced it
had "planned, budgeted, and
scheduled in detail" a 26-month
program, at the end of which it would
be in full production of heavyweight
Indian motorcycles.
The new company's first products
would beapairofV-twin models, which
would share a frame and engine but
feature different styling.
Roush Industries Inc., a
transportation engineering and
prototyping company headquartered
in Livonia, Mich., has been hired to
design the V-twin engine.
Indian is one ofthe most renowned
names among motorcycle buffs. Eller
Industries estimates that, through
obsessive maintenance and
scrounging forparts, owners may have
kept more than 100,000 ofthe decades-
old bikes on the road.
Since the original Indian enterprise
Motorcycle/to Pg. 3
Catawbas team up with university to offer
lobbying seminars
ROCKHILL, S.C. (AP) - TheCatawba
Indian Nation is teaming up with
Washington's Georgetown University
to offer seminars in lobbying, finance
and economics to tribal leaders
nationwide.
The Tribal Executive Institute will
help the tribes hold their own against
politiciansonCapitolHill. Georgetown
professors and senior tribal leaders
from across the country will run the
seminars inRock Hill and Washington.
"It's gotten to the point where
(Indian) leaders are much more
involved in the political system," said
Catawba chief Gilbert Blue.
"They need to be educated and need
to educate Congress about what the
concerns are in Indian country."
In the past, leaders stayed close to
home, managing their reservations and
going to Washington only to fight
bills that would adversely affect them,
Blue said.
The new program will help them meet
new challenges, said Gay Drew, the
institute's founder and president.
"What I noted was that there was a
need for an entity that would provide
aplace where tribal members could get
immersion into critical issues they have
to deal with on a daily basis," Drew
said.
"When leaders sit in the tribal chair,
they are supposed to know it all. People
used to ask, 'Is there somewhere I can
go for this?' " Now, there is, she said.
About30 Oneidas, Cherokees, Scquims
and otherNative Americans signed up
for the first seminar on Saturday in
Myrtle Beach.
It will be combined with the annua}
Catawbas/to pg. 3
•Former Shooting Star employee to be charged with felony theft
•Red Lake man alleges violations of Indian Civil Rights Act
•Universal Concerts, Seagrams block Muckleshoot Amphitheater
•Lawrence only Minnesotan participating in nat'l Citizens' Initiative
on Race and Ethnicity
•Smokescreens at White Earth and Leech Lake, pg. 3
•LL Housing election an insult to MCT Constitution, pg. 4
Voice ofthe People
email. pr8SSon@paulbunyan.net
Native
American
Press
®
Ojibwe
News
We Support Equal Opportunity For All People
Founded in 1988
Volume n Issue 01
October 18,1898
1
A weekly publication.
Copyright Native American Press, 1888
On October 6,1998, President Clinton signed into law the Sand Creek Massacre National Historical Site
Study Act of 1998. The law requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a resource study ofthe Sand
Creek Massacre site in Colorado for submission to Congress. Pictured, from left to right: Senator Ben
Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), President William J. Clinton, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Rl).Storyonpg. 5
Red Lake man alleges violations of Indian
Civil Rights Act in challenge to conviction
By Jeff Armstrong
The authority of tribal courts to try
defendants without appointing them
professional attorneys and to issue
sentences of more than one year
imprisonment is being challenged in a
federal habeas corpus petition.
In his petition to the U.S. District
Court in Minneapolis, William Roy
maintains that he was denied the right
to competent legal representation
during his trial in Red Lake Tribal Court
last year, in violation ofthe due process
clauseofthe federal IndianCivil Rights
Act (ICRA). Roy was sentenced to two
years imprisonment on charges of
aggravated assault and reckless
handling ofa dangerous weapon for
his role in the stabbing death of Wesley
Strong, though ICRA specifically
prohibits tribal courts from imposing
sentences of more than one year for
any "single offense."
"Mr. Roy has been sentenced to two
years in the Red Lake jail for a single
offense," Roy's brief argues. "He was
sentenced without ever having the
advice and assistance of legal counsel,
and his rights were even further
prejudiced by having to share his lay
advocate with his brother, with whom
Mr. Roy had an obvious and
substantial conflict of interest. While
perhaps the federal courts have
historically turned a blind eye to due
process abuses in tribal courts by
consoling themselves that the
potential sentences are limited, that
consolation is not available in the
instant case," states the memorandum
prepared by Roy's attorney,U.S. public
defender Scott Tilsen.
Roy's petition argues that the two
charges are indistinguishable aspects
of the same offense, and that even if
the court had the authority to impose
consective one-year sentences, it could
not do so without providing Roy a
licensed attorney.
Red Lake attorney David Harrington
and Kurt Bluedog of Minneapolis,
however, counter that the U.S. lacks
authority to review the case and that
the sentence was imposed for two
distinct offenses. "No objection to the
separate charges or to the Red Lake
Public Defender was raised before,
during, or after trial, or in the Notice of
Appeal. William, therefore, failed to
avail himself of a tribal court
determination on these issues, thereby
failing to exhaust tribal court remedies,
regardless ofthe current status ofhis
appeal," the Red Lake response
asserts.
However, Roy's reply notes that the
federal doctrine of "exhaustion of tribal
remedies" as a prerequisite to U.S.
jurisdiction has never been directly
applied to a habeas corpus petition
under ICRA. Such application would
render the largely symbolic ICRA even
more meaningless than it already is,
since tribal appeals could be arbitrarily
delay ed well past the prison term ofthe
appellant.
Governor urges casinos to wake up to
threat of Proposition 5
Opponents of Pequote annexation hail
decision in Minnesota
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Gov. Bob Mi Her
said the casino industry doesn't
understand the magnitude of the
economic crisis that could face Nevada
if California voters approve an Indian
gaming initiativenextmonth.
"California is our largest economic
base. Ifwe are asleep at the switch and
this creeps up, it could be a serious
problem," Miller told the Las Vegas
Sun this weekend from Belgium, where
he was on a mission to lure tourists to
Nevada.
Casino industry leaders
acknowledged last week that they're
losing the battle to stop Proposition 5,
the California Indian Self-Reliance
Initiative.
Latest polls show California voters
favor the initiative by 15 to 20 points.
The tribes have outspent the casino
industry and a coalition of California
special interests by a 3-1 margin.
"We could lose it, absolutely, given
the fact that many people in the
industry are sticking their heads in the
sand," said Mike Sloan, general
counsel of Circus Circus Enterprises.
Circus Circus, Mirage Resorts Inc. and
Hilton Gaming have been leading the
way in funding the Proposition Five
fight.
But beyond those gaming giants,
support within the casino industry has
been light. If the ballot initiative passes
Nov. 3, more than 100 California tribes
would be able to develop Las Vegas-
style gambling operations, which
experts say eventually could cost
Proposition 5/to pg. 3
PRESTON, Conn. (AP) - A federal
ruling against land annexation by a
rich Minnesota Indian tribe is raising
hopes in southeastern Connecticut.
The issues are similar to a case in
which Preston, Ledyard and North
Stonington opposed the
Mashantucket Pequots' annexation of
165 acres across from tjie tribe's
Foxwoods Resort Casino and
reservation.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs this
week rejected an application by the
Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota tribe
in Minnesota, citing the success of
their Mystic Lake Casino. The BIA
ruled that the tribe had not proved it
needed the land for its long-term
survival.
] However, the decision brushed aside
the city of Shakopee's objection that
placing the land into trust would have
a negative impact on its tax base and
zoning regulations.
The three towns in the Connecticut
case are represented by the same law
firm that represented those who
opposed the annexation by the
Minnesota tribes. "The three towns
would have won in Connecticut if (the
BIA) had utilized the same standard,"
lawyer Guy Martin said Thursday.
In 1995,theBIA allowed thePequots
to annex the 165 acres across from
their casino. The federal lawsuit by
Preston, Ledyard and North
Stonington seeks to overturn that
decision.
Martin said he expected his law firm
would submit the BIA's Minnesota
ruling to the federal judge who is
consider the lawsuit filed by the three
Connecticut towns.